Teaching children to cook is one of the great joys of parenthood. With the right recipes, young cooks discover that learning to make food is easy and fun.

Start with basic no-cooking-involved sandwiches and move on to cutting fruit and vegetables for salads. When your son or daughter has mastered salads, introduce microwave and slow cooker (Crockpot ™) cooking.

If you find that you don't have the time (or patience) to teach your children the basics of cooking, there are always local chefs who teach cooking classes for children.

The best cookbooks for
children have:

Great illustrations
Recipes with easy to find ingredients
Recipes with no more than 6 ingredients

Grocery shopping lists
Step-by-step instructions

Five questions to ask about each cookbook

Do I recognize any of the recipes in this cookbook?

Does this cookbook teach the basics? Children need to learn how to accurately measure ingredients, and how hold knives and other cooking utensils, as well as how to carry hot dishes.

Is there a list of pots, pans and other kitchen essentials?

Are the recipes easy for children to read?

Will the servings be the right size? Does each recipe feed one person, two people, or a crowd at the local potluck?